Percy Jackson and the Olympians - AU oneshot
by nand01
Summary: Percy is 16 years old and have been spending his summers on camp half-blood since he was six years old. A new girl arrives to camp, Annabeth Chase. Annabeth's parents have recently died, ans she is very fragile. She sneaks out to get some air after a nightmare and Percy comforts her.


Percy was staring over the bay at camp half-blood where he had spent his summers since six years of age. Now, ten years later, he was still there. Sitting there in complete silence, only with the peaceful sound of water from the green ocean and a light breeze in his face to keep him company. He liked moments like these. Moments where he could just relax and not constantly trying to keep he and his friends alive. Cause that's just how life was for a half-blood, especially a really powerful half-blood who is the subject of the great prophecy _and _is especially stupid at times. He sighed. Why did he have to be a son of Poseidon? Why couldn't he be a son of Athena or something? Smart and wise. But most of the Athena kids were pretty stuck up, not that he really knew any of them. His only real friend was Grover. All of the other kids just seemed fake, and all of the girls acted really weird around him. Batting their eyelashes like they'd got something in their eye and laughing obnoxiously loud. "Percy!" he heard someone shout, but he didn't even have to turn around to know that it was Grover. Soon his satyr best friend was standing beside him. "We've got a new kid! It's a she, she's your age and pretty cute." he was jumping up and down on the spot. Percy grinned "Why are you telling me this?"

"Um, well, she's a bit of a mess.. her parents recently died and she's not really speaking to anyone. All of the other kids are busy and you were just standing here so.." the raven haired boy awkwardly fidgeted with the his ball point pen that could turn into a sword with a press of a button. "Can't anyone else do it? I'm not really good at comforting, especially comforting a _girl." _He shuddered and thought about his many experiences with angry women. Grover gave him a meaning look "Come on, Perce." Percy sighed "Fine, where is she?" the satyr smiled "The big house."

The pair walked up the stairs to the porch to find Chiron looking like he was deep in thought. "Where is she?" Grover asked "Inside. Please be gentle, she's a bit torn up." They nodded and pushed the door open. On the couch in the living room sat Mr. D and girl. She had long and curly blonde hair that went well with her very tanned skin. She was wearing denim shorts so that her long and slim legs were displayed and Percy felt himself blushing. He imagined she would have brown or blue eyes like a typical California girl. But when she turned her head and looked at them her eyes were the most intense gray he had ever seen, like a powerful storm, and he could almost see the wisdom hidden in them. Gods, she sure was cute, Percy thought. "Um, hi, I'm Percy Jackson." he said and smiled a little at her. She gave him a small smile back "Annabeth Chase." she simply said and stood up. She was wearing an orange camp half-blood t-shirt that looked amazing with her tanned skin. "Okay." there was an awkward silence where they were just staring around the room. Percy started fidgeting the ball point pen in his pocket and looked at the floor. "Well? Perry, show her around camp." Mr. D ordered "It's Perc- ah, never mind. Let's go, Annabeth." Together they exited the big house and started walking down the hill towards the lake. "So.. Do you know who, um, whose kid you are? Of the mighty gods, I mean." Percy laughed "You don't have to overdo it. I'm the son of Poseidon, he's-" she interrupted him "The god of the sea, I know. That means you're really powerful, right?" he nodded awkwardly "Yeah, I guess. Do you know who..?" he glanced at her and she nodded "Athena, I'm the daughter of Athena. Goddess of wisdom." _I knew it, _he thought and smiled a little. "Well, this is where you can practice rowing." he said and gestured towards the lake. She laughed a little "I figured. Where are the cabins?" he looked at her "I'll show you those last, first I should show you the-" she interrupted him for the second time that day "Please. It's nearly dark and I just really want to sleep." _Doesn't she want to be with me? Am I annoying her? _Percy thought nervously and watched her sad eyes. "Sure, I get it. A lot to take in." they started walking towards the cabin. Many of the campers stopped what they were doing to watch them, and he wasn't sure why. "I hope you'll like it here, you seem cool for a daughter of Athena." he casually said and tried to hide the fact that he was totally blushing. Annabeth laughed "You too. So what do you get to do here? Just, practice killing monsters?" Percy shrugged "Basically. We are practicing for when we get to go on quests." Annabeth nodded "Oh, right, quests." she frowned "But why would you want to risk your life like that? Isn't that, I don't know, a bit stupid?" he chuckled "Yeah, maybe. But all of it is for a good cause. I don't know how many times demigods have saved the world."

"Have you ever saved the world?" she asked kindly. Percy swallowed and looked at the ground, a bit flustered by the question. He thought about all of his quests, Zeus's bolt, the golden fleece.. "Um, yes. But I had lots of help and it was mostly good luck and it really isn't as awesome as it sounds." he said the last part very fast and Annabeth chuckled "Show off."

Percy smiled and was actually a bit sad that they had arrived so fast at the Athena cabin. "This is it, enjoy your stay." He had tried to sound polite, but Annabeth raised her eyebrows "You sound like a tour guide for a one week charter vacation." She started walking up the stairs "Maybe you can show me the rest of camp tomorrow." Percy nodded and smiled at her, and she smiled back before entering the house and closing the door behind her.

Grover was right, she was pretty cute_, _Percy thought. Definitely Aphrodite material. He whirled around on his heels and started walking towards his cabin, where he lived all alone except for when Tyson was there, and all of a sudden he felt kind of lonely.

Annabeth's eyes shot open.

This wasn't her room, she could tell even in the dark. It didn't smell like this. Where the hell was she? Her eyes scanned the room in the darkness. Slowly it all came back to her. Camp half-blood, Greek gods, monsters.. Right. She was breathing hard and some of her hair stuck to her forehead from the sweat, and she was crying rather hard. She was gripping her sheets tightly and was curled up in the warm bed. Once again the nightmares from that night, that horrible night that she remembered so well even though everyone told her that her mind would suppress the memory. _I need fresh air. _Her mind was saying, so she got out of bed, careful not to wake her.. siblings, and put on denim short and wrapped a blanket tightly around her before going out. She had fallen asleep In her camp half-blood t-shirt and it was soaked with sweat. But she didn't bother to change now, all she needed was a bit of air. She slipped into her shoes and quietly crept to the door and opened it, thanking the gods it didn't creak. Just as quietly she closed the door behind her and started walking down the line of cabins. Studying them, trying to figure out what god they represented, in other words, trying to think of something else than the nightmare she just had. Thinking about everything she could possibly think of other than that night, she had completely lost touch with reality and soon she was standing on the beach. When the cold water touched her toes she gasped and jumped away, looking around. Annabeth was completely alone, standing in the moon light on the beach with only the peaceful sound of splashing water. She wrapped the blanket around her more tightly and sat down, looking out over the horizon. The moon reflected in the dark water and the stars were out and it was incredibly beautiful. She felt the tears fall from her eyes, but didn't bother to stop them. Annabeth sighed and started restlessly drawing in the soft sand with her index finger, letting it draw patterns and letters. She wasn't really paying attention until she looked down and was surprised when she saw what she had drawn in the sand, a strange looking bird in a circle with the letter written vertically beside it. She had seen the drawing before, in a dream maybe, but she had seen it.

"Annabeth?" she heard a voice say behind her. She quickly kicked the sand to that the drawing was erased, she didn't really know why. Annabeth turned her head to find a black haired boy staring at her. Percy Jackson. "Oh, hey, Percy." she suddenly became very aware of that her hair looked like a birds nest and that she was wearing a t-shirt soaked with sweat, and that her cheeks were stained with tears.. "What are ya doing?" he asked and sat down besides her, spreading out his long legs. Annabeth swallowed and begged to the gods for the second time tonight that her voice wouldn't be shaky. "I'm just, uh, I needed some air." she said and refused to look at him. "Oh, okay, cool." they were both silent for a moment "What are you thinking about?" he asked and she turned her head to look at him. He looked genuinely curious, his green eyes wide and friendly "Nothing, really.. I had a nightmare." she admitted and looked away again, embarrassed. _Great, Annabeth. Now he thinks you're a wimp, _she thought to herself. "Oh." he simply said and tried sounding nonchalant, failing to do so. "Don't act like you don't know what it was about. Chiron told you, didn't he?" she muttered and glanced at him. Percy awkwardly looked at the ground "I, um... Yeah. I'm really sorry, Annabeth." she was silent for a long time "I was there, I was in the plane." she whispered and she felt the tears burning under her eyelids. Percy stayed silent to she continued "I heard them scream, heard everyone scream. I was the only one who survived in my family." crap, now her voice was shaking. "You don't have to tell me this." Percy quietly said. Annabeth turned to him, a shocked expression on her face. "Aren't you super curious of the freak whose parents died?" Percy didn't laugh, he just looked at her with both pity and awe at the same time. "We're half god here, all of us are freaks", he smiled a little and looked out over the water "you can tell me when you're ready." he said and Annbeth felt like hugging the guyfor being so.. so genuinely _nice _"Okay." she answered and smiled. "Well?" she said after a moment of silence "Well what?" he asked and glanced at her "Just because you aren't curious of my life doesn't mean I'm not curious of yours, world saver." she playfully shoved him in the side. Percy laughed "What do you wanna hear?" he asked. Annabeth spread out the blanket on the sand and laid on her stomach, watching him intently. "How about.. How your first quest? I heard you've been on many." he nodded, still smiling "Okay, um", he took a deep breath "it all started with that someone had stolen Zeus lightning bolt..."

And like that they sat, for hours, just talking about everything. Annabeth had almost forgotten about her nightmare. She had laughed, almost cried, cried from laughing and her hair was full of sand from rolling around in it, either from laughing or from sitting still for two long. Annabeth had asked so many questions, and Percy had answered all of them. They only stopped when the sun was about to rise and Annabeth gasped. "Oh my god! We've been up all night, we have to get some sleep." She jumped up and gathered the blanket in her arms. But she couldn't stop smiling. Percy had made her forget completely about her problems, she felt like she'd known him forever. He had told her his whole life story. About the lightning thief, the sea of monsters, his cyclops brother, his pen sword and so much more. Annabeth was shaking her head, trying to get the sand out of her hair. Percy chuckled and stood up. Together they walked back to the cabins, Annabeth running into hers as quietly as she could and Percy calmly walking into his big empty one. She crept over to her bed and took of her sandy denim shorts, then slowly sinking in to the warm covers and falling asleep in a nanosecond, exhausted.


End file.
